Gigabyte
first entered into the cooling industry with its large copper PCU31-VH
3DCooler-Ultra heatsink. While
that heatsink certainly had excellent performance characteristics, it was a very heavy, 700+ gram
thermal solution. The Gigabyte 3D Rocket Cooler
(PCU22-SE) is a variation on the 3D Cooler Ultra design,
with a couple of significant enhancements that make it an interesting option for mainstream
users who just needs a multi-platform heatsink that works quietly.

The Gigabyte PCU22-SE is configured to work on the socket 462/A AthlonXP, socket 478 & 775 Pentium 4,
and socket 754/940/939 Athlon64 processors. That level of versatility inherently
dictates some sacrifices are made to accommodate the different thermal
requirements, and differently size CPU cores and heatspreaders.

The obvious benefit for consumers is that with just one
heatsink, you can cool any platform you may upgrade to in the near future. In
practice, the PCU22-SE works best on processors with a larger core, like the
Athlon64 and Pentium 4.

Of all the design alterations, the ones which give
the 3D Rocket Cooler its name revolve around the fan, and how air
is exhausted from the cooler. What makes this mechanism interesting is that
the top of the PCU22-SE is actually sealed off with a clear sheet of
plastic, forcing air drawn in by the squirrel cage fan to pass through the top
43mm section of aluminum fins.

That air is then exhausted out the bottom of the
cooler through a combination 18mm thick array of aluminum fins,
and 15mm open gap.

The premise being that the exhausted air is used to
further cool the PCU22-SE heatsink, and air escaping through the open gap is
direct by a translucent blue plastic skirt towards adjacent electrical
components on the motherboard. This exhaust air may have been warmed by the
heatsink, but is still useful for cooling items near by the processor socket;
such as the Northbridge heatsink, MOSFETs (and in the case of Gigabyte, DPS
power system), memory, and even videocard.

Used with
one of three included clips, and a special plastic mounting frame, the Gigabyte 3D Rocket Cooler attaches
to an AMD AthlonXP, Athlon64, or Intel Pentium4 with little fuss. It
is important to consult the manual to ensure you have the heatsink oriented properly
when using it with a socket A, or socket 775 processor. There is a small tab of metal that comes down, and
if you have the heatsink installed the wrong way, it could cause problems when
you power up the PC.